Jansport and I have been neglecting our duties on the Interweb! Truth to be told, I was composing a message for you all last Friday night, when my computer blew up. I haven’t the interweb to keep me company since. I am writing this, now, from the campus library, on a public keyboard, which makes me wince. Those who know me know of my great aversion to the public and their social diseases. Not those kind of social diseases – more like influenza and scabies. Those are the kind that make me scared of public computers.

So Jansport and I have been roughing it for a few days. On Saturday, I moved into our new flat, which is located in the heart of the West End of Glasgow. That means it is close to campus. It is a garden apartment, which means basement, but it has three large windows and a pretty back garden.

Living here reminds me of wartime Britain. Here me out. We haven’t a TV, internet, or a radio. Those who know me know I write in fountain pen. We have a washer but no dryer – this is the custom in the UK – laundry is aired instead. The heating system, like all British heating systems, is set up to provide heat during specific hours of the day, and not necessarily according to need. There is an old coal fireplace in the main room.

So picture me, sitting at the table, taking notes on a book written in the 1930s in fountain pen, drinking tea from a mug, teapot at my side, my socks on the radiator drying, and my clothes on the line out back. Throw in a ration book and an air-raid siren and I’d be all set. Truth to be told, I don’t mind the 40s, and I get some kind of strange satisfaction in having to iron my sheets dry. I told the Sam that our iron, from now on, should just be referred to as our dryer.

I’ve been collecting the whatnots that make a house a home. Like a kettle, set of pots and pans, and plates. For a couple of days, before my cook set arrived by post, I only had a single plastic spoon. I discovered that, although difficult, you could butter toast with the handle of a plastic spoon. Unfortunately, making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich was too much, and Spoon buckled under the strain of spreading chunky peanut butter over wholemeal bread. I was a bit upset – it meant I had to stir my tea with a pen – but Jansport wasn’t. He didn’t like all the attention Spoon was getting.

In other news, my girls arrive on Thursday. This is extremely exciting and it will finally feel like we can all get started with our life over here. Also, for you all it will mean an additional voice on this post, making sure than I don’t go on about spoons and my backpack.

Cheers,

Ian